Sunrise Propane was in the process of trying to expand storage at its Downsview site by more than seven-fold before the Murray Road facility exploded this month.

In July 2007, the company applied to the Technical Standards and Safety Authority to replace its 4,000 U.S.-gallon tank with a 30,000 U.S.-gallon tank, according to Prem Lal, the authority’s co-ordinator of public information.

The application remained in the preliminary stages because Sunrise was asked to contact an authority inspector but had not followed through on the request, Lal said.

“Unless an inspector goes and does an inspection, we don’t licence it,” he said.
“The client was asked to contact one of our inspectors and that hadn’t been done. I don’t know what was holding them (up).”

Lal called a 4,000-U.S.-gallon tank an “average” size, but said there are facilities in Ontario with 30,000-U.S.-gallon tanks. He did not know if any exist in Toronto.

The authority is a non-for-profit organization given the responsibility by the province to licence propane facilities and other equipment such as amusement devices, boilers, elevators and ski lifts.